Kumogakure
Kumogakure (Kumogakure no Sato; Literally meaning "Village Hidden in the Clouds") is the Hidden Village of the Land of Lightning. As one of the five Great Ninja Villages, Kumogakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Raikage. There have been six Raikage, the most recent being General Toza. Use of lightning release techniques and swords seem to be common of ninja from this village. The village is located in a range of tall mountains, and is literally hidden in the clouds. The Raikage lives in a large structure built into the tallest mountain. History Previous Wars During the First Great Shinobi World War, Kumogakure fought with Konohagakure. A group of Kumogakure ninja known as the Kinkaku Force were responsible for the death of the Second Hokage when he stayed on to protect his team of shinobi. The war ended with an armistice treaty, but only after all of the Five Great Nations had been seriously damaged. Taming the Tailed Beasts During the reign of the Third Raikage, some 30 years before the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, the village was plagued by the berserk attacks of the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox, due to its host not being able to control its power. The Third Raikage lead special teams to combat and re-seal the Eight-Tails in a special sealing pot. Many of the shinobi who participated lost their lives. As they could not dispose of such a valuable war deterrent, the village was forced to look for a more suitable jinchūriki. In time the village would come to select Killer Bee as the beast's host, and the Eight-Tails' rampages were brought to an end. Kumogakure has had two tailed beasts in its possession: the Two-Tailed Monster Cat, sealed within Yugito Nii, and the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox, sealed within Killer Bee. Both are very skilled with their tailed beasts, so much so that Bee was regarded as one of only four ninja who can completely control a tailed beast. Covert Activities Despite times of peace, Kumogakure has not demilitarized and in fact constantly seeks to have an edge on the other ninja villages, even going so far as kidnapping ninja with special abilities (such as Kushina Uzumaki). Nine years before the start of the series, after the end of another conflict between Kumogakure and Konohagakure, the villages decided to formally end their constant fighting. A Head Ninja was sent to Konoha to sign a peace treaty. While there the Head Ninja tried to kidnap Hinata Hyuuga so as to gain the Byakugan. He was killed by her father, Hiashi, but Kumogakure, claiming to have no knowledge of the Head Ninja's motives, demanded Hiashi's body in compensation. They received the body of Hiashi's twin brother, Hizashi, instead, Hizashi's cursed seal destroying his Byakugan upon death. No other village has been shown yet with so many attempts at stealing jutsu. Fourth Great Shinobi World War After Akatsuki captured Yugito and appeared to have capture Bee, the Raikage was so outraged by the loss of both that he convenes a Kage Summit to deal with the criminal organization. At the meeting, the Raikage voices his distrust for the other villages, claiming that only Kumogakure has never employed Akatsuki or had an Akatsuki representative. For these reasons, when the Shinobi Alliance is formed, the Raikage was selected by Mifune to lead the other villages in fighting Akatsuki during the Fourth Great Shinobi World War. Along with the fact that Kumogakure has become the strongest of the five villages due to Konohagakure suffering a huge drop in military strength due to Akatsuki's attack, Kumogakure's stance in the world has grown considerably as a result; the other ninja villages agree to have Bee (having only pretended to be captured) and Naruto Uzumaki sheltered from Akatsuki by Kumogakure. However, they were unaware that Kisame Hoshigaki, faked his own death at the hands of Killer Bee and the Fourth Raikage, and has been spying on them during the village's meeting about military strategies, while hiding inside Samehada that Bee took. Shinobi Not much is known about the shinobi from Kumogakure. Besides being home to two Jinchūriki, Kumogakure is also home to the Kirioa clan. Tran Kirioa was the only one from his clan that survived the attack on the village. Now, Saya Kirioa is the only known user of the its Kekkei Genkai The organization of Kumogakure's shinobi is slightly different from other villages. Besides the normal ranks of Kage > Jonin > Chunin > Genin, Kumogakure has an extra rank, that of Head Ninja (Shinobigashira). It seems this rank is placed between Kage and Jōnin.